


Catching You

by QueenOfAllCorgis



Category: Pacific Rim, Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Anti-Mutant Discrimination, M/M, Mention of murdering a mutant, Mutant!Newton, Newt saves Hermann but has a meltdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27850250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfAllCorgis/pseuds/QueenOfAllCorgis
Summary: Newton was more than determined to keep his abilities a secret. Mutants were not well liked after all, no one needed to know.Then Hermann slipped off his ladder.Telekinetic!Newton
Relationships: PreSlash Newton Geiszler/Hermann Gottlieb
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	Catching You

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched Pacific Rim the other day and fell head first into a fandom I haven't thought about in like five years. Then, I started browsing through the kink meme and...one thing led to another. I might include another chapter or two, I'm not sure yet. 
> 
> Prompt: Mutants are looked down upon, even in the PPDC. Newton is telepathic and has telekinesis and hides it the best he can. He knows that as soon as anyone finds out his job will be in danger (Think a Don't Ask Don't Tell kind of situation).
> 
> Then one day, Hermann slips when he's on his giant ladder thing and without thinking of it, Newt stops him before he hits the ground. Newt completely freaks out but Hermann assures him that he won't say a thing.
> 
> Bonuses:  
> -the secret causes them to bond  
> -Hermann likes that he can ask Newt to hand him things in the lab without having to move  
> -telepathic/telekinetic sex

Kenneth Avery used to work in the mess hall.

He was a tall, slim man with a soft smile who gave extra jello to people who smiled back. He laughed at Newton’s jokes and wore a little Santa hat around the holidays. Kenneth never hurt anyone, he never got on anyone’s bad side. He did his job, and he did it fairly well. All in all, he was a nice guy.

He could also freeze things with his touch.

And apparently that was too much for people.

It was a tragic fall. That was what they were all told when Kenneth was pulled out of the sea. It led to another boring safety training and everything went quickly hush hush. The bruises on Kenneth’s arms weren’t noticed. The way he nervously shied away from some of the cadets wasn’t mentioned. Newton saw it all and he kept his mouth shut.

He didn’t want to be next.

His designation was listed somewhere on his file, just a line. A few words typed onto a form that would be the end of him if anyone found out.

_Newton Geiszler – Mutant_

Stacker Pentecost pulled him aside after he first arrived at the base, dark eyes sharp. “I don’t have a problem with it. Don’t give anyone else a reason to have a problem with it. Keep it to yourself and you’ll be fine.”

So, he did.

He hid that part of him, the energy that thrummed under his skin. He was already a target for dirty looks with his tattoos and manic energy and brash attitude. That would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Being annoying was one thing, being annoying with some fucked up DNA was a step too far.

Newton Geiszler could fade into the background if he wanted.

“…the third derivative added to the square of twenty-six and…” Hermann’s mumbling was a constant in the background, broken only by Newton’s ACDC album playing at a _respectable volume_. “And then we…yes, yes, yes.”

Newton dove back into the bone, fascinated by the texture and composition of the marrow. It was spongy but dense. There was a rather large ratio of marrow to bone…was that because they needed to create so much blood? Was the toxicity due to something in the marrow? Was it-

“ _Fuck!”_

Honestly, it was Hermann’s cursing that got his attention. The worst he had ever heard from the man was a “damn” or maybe even a “hell”. He would never debase himself down to Newton’s level, loathing the man’s potty mouth.

So, his head snapped up just in time to see Hermann flail a bit at the top of his ladder. He had gone all the way up, up to the step that Newton knew said “This is not a step”. In an attempt to stretch a bit further to finish his equation he had unbalanced.

Almost in slow motion Hermann began to fall.

His bad leg tried to balance himself on the ladder but that gave out and then Hermann was slipping into empty space. Newton’s heart jumped into his throat as Hermann tumbled through the air, falling towards the ground.

Easy as breathing.

Newton extended a hand.

Hermann froze midair.

There was a moment where everything froze. Hermann hovered just a foot off the ground, eyes blinking up at the ceiling in shock before drifting to where Newton stood. His hand was held out in front of him, fingertips trembling with the effort of holding him up.

Their eyes locked and Hermann fell to the ground with an _oomph._

“Oh,” Newton breathed, hand snapping back to press against his chest. “Shit…fuck I…I…Herms-“

“Newton,” Hermann sounded strangled and suddenly tears flooded Newton’s eyes.

This was it.

Hermann was going to get out as fast as he could and tell everyone what a _freak_ his lab mate was.

News would get out, Pentecost would have to ask him to leave or someone would chunk him into the ocean before he was kicked out.

Christ, Newton wasn’t a great swimmer.

Were there sharks here? There could be. Hong Kong was never really mentioned in Shark Week, it wasn’t Australia or anything but-

“Newton!” His head snapped up, hands still pressing his glasses into the bridge of his nose so hard it hurt. He refused to look up and kept his eyes closed tight. He could hear the click on Hermann’s cane and flinched with each one.

He wasn’t running out but maybe he would whack Newton himself.

Was Hermann one of those anti-mutant people? The ones who burned their homes, the ones who beat and harassed them, the ones who had thrown Kenneth into the cold ocean?

“Newton,” Hermann didn’t sound angry, but he still didn’t take his hands from his face. “Newt, just breathe. You’re alright, I’m alright.”

It was really the Newt that did it. He had never heard Hermann use his nickname before, often times he would roll his eyes and scoff at it. Warm hands covered his own and pulled them away from his face. His glasses were smudged from the tears and from his hands, but Hermann took them off, cleaning them on the edge of his sweater.

The whole time he talked.

“There we go, nice and clean. Deep breaths. Now, now, stop that. You’re okay,” his accented voice made a small amount of stress bleed from Newton’s shoulders. The glasses were replaced, and Newton blinked owlishly.

It was then he realized how hard he was trembling.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” he breathed out, voice high and reedy. Hermann stood in front of him, so close, and gave a tiny smile before nodding. “Herms, I’m so fucking sorry. I-“

“Whatever are you sorry for? Saving my life? Or at least saving me from a broken bone or two?” He got Newton to stop his rambling. “Besides, I’ve always known.”

“What?”

Hermann smiled then, a real smile that he saw so rarely. “When you’re really focused your pencils and pens either spin or float. I’m known for years; I just didn’t want to…I was waiting for you to tell me.”

Relief hit so hard Newton felt almost dizzy with it. He reached back to steady himself on a table, knees feeling weak. Tears still trickled down his cheeks, feeling too hot on his clammy skin. There was no malice in Hermann’s eyes, no hate or desire to hurt. He let out a short, slightly hysterical laugh and sank down into his office chair.

“Shit Hermie, I thought you were going to beat me with your cane or something,” he let out in a rush, hands raking through his hair to make it stand on end crazily. “I never thought…never in a million years you would be cool with it.”

Something fractured in Hermann’s eyes at that and he looked down at his feet, cane tapping lightly on the ground. “How could you think that?”

The hurt in his voice made Newton pause and he couched forward a bit, instinctively making himself a bit smaller. “We aren’t exactly well loved or whatever. Some people even think a mutant opened the breach to begin with, which is stupid. I didn’t know how you’d react. I thought you would jump at the chance to get me out of your hair.”

Hermann looked unbearably sad at that. It made Newton look down at his trembling fingers, wanting anything besides that gaze on him. “I wouldn’t do that Newton. Besides, you have done nothing wrong. It is simply your DNA, not something of your choosing.”

“Doesn’t mean people aren’t dicks,” Newton shrugged.

“If someone is discriminating against you due to your mutation-” Newton looked nervously at the door at that but Hermann continued. “Then I will go to the Marshal myself and-“

“And get a bigger target on me? No thanks. I can keep my big mouth shut sometimes,” Newton snapped back. “There aren’t any anti-discrimination laws for…people like me. If someone hurts us they can just say it was self-defense…that they were threatened by my powers or whatever.”

Hermann made a face at that. “Still-“

“Still nothing. Avery spoke out, tried to be all proud and true to himself and he got himself shoved into the ocean,” at Hermann’s sharp inhale Newton raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think he honestly slipped do you?”

Hermann paled a bit. “I won’t tell anyone, I wouldn’t. I find you insufferable and obnoxious but…Christ, I wouldn’t put you in danger.”

The hot sting of tears burned at his eyes again and Newton convulsively swallowed around the lump in his throat. Thankfully, Hermann didn’t say anything, He just let Newton sit and think for a bit, something he hardly did anyway but desperately needed now.

“I can help you, you know,” he finally mumbled. “Like…send you chalk up the ladder if you need it or…I don’t know…”

“You don’t need to buy my silence,” Hermann shook his head, one hand hovering a bit like he wanted to put it on Newton’s shoulder. “Just no more panic attacks like that. This lab is a safe place…or as safe as it can be with your dangerous experiments and half empty ramen cups you leave lying around.”

“There are still perfectly good noodles in there.”

“They are weeks old Newton,” Hermann scowled and things suddenly felt back to normal. This was good, the bickering and arguments. It wasn’t the pitying, soft words that were scary and real and too much.

“There is enough sodium in that to keep it preserved for years,” he snipped back, feeling a rise of pride at the small smile that quirked at Hermann’s lips.

“Just…levitate them into the bin or something.”

“Already using me for my powers.”


End file.
